ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies strategies and pragmatic organizational approaches to address vicarious trauma (VT) and build resilience based on the model described in Employer Practices for Addressing Stress and Building Resilience released in August 2013 by Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, a program of the American Psychiatric Foundation. The impetus behind the research study was the premise that reduced stress and enhanced resilience results in positive individual and organizational outcomes such as employee satisfaction, recruitment and retention, absence reduction, work engagement, productivity, and financial performance. Studies have shown that stress from excessive work demand affects individual job performance (Motowildo, Packard, & Manning, 1986) as well as team work (Driskell, Salas, & Johnston, 1999). This chapter goes beyond workplace stress and aims to address VT as an occupational hazard in disaster mental health response. It presents a framework to guide individuals and organizations in understanding VT and in taking meaningful action to promote resilience in mental health providers in the workplace.
